Report 1306
Report #1306 Skillset: Herbs Skill: Earwort/Faeleaf Org: Cantors Status: Rejected Mar 2015 Furies' Decision: We can see if this is still an issue after blind/deaf are converted to the overhaul system Problem: With the overhaul shift to the new curing balances, certain aspects of bard combat have remained on herb balance. I refer to true deafness and true blindness remaining on herb-balance, while the afflictions of bard combat have moved onto the new curative balances - this generates situations where previously a person would consume herb balance upon raising earwort (giving the bard a chance to re-strip before they cured aurics), they can now instantly cure the auric upon eating earwort without allowing the bard any opportunity to track and counter. Likewise, there will no longer be an opportunity cost associated with raising trueblind by eating faeleaf (removing substantial curing pressure from the target), exacerbating the already clunky nature of Glamourist combat. This report aims to rectify the newly introduced disparities described above. Solution #1: Change earwort to both require and consume steam balance. Retain current equilibrium-disruption effect if attempting to eat earwort while off-steam balance. Solution #2: Remove trueblind from faeleaf's effect on Glamours (Colourburst, ColourSpray, RainbowPattern, HypnoticPattern, Mesmerise, ColourMaelstrom, DeadlyPattern). Consider retaining the defence against Fascination(transfix, which will carry over to spix) and Maze only. Player Comments: ---on 2/25 @ 16:16 writes: Solution 2 is clunky and inconsistent. Of the two, solution 1 is better, but I think that this problem is only a problem because the overhaul is still ongoing. Not all affs have been moved over and trueblind/deaf are caught in it. ---on 2/27 @ 14:56 writes: I understand the issue presented but let's wait for the Overhaul to move a wee bit further before proposing changes like this please. ---on 3/1 @ 21:21 writes: I think sol. 1 is not too much to ask for and probably not going to affect things in the long run. ---on 3/22 @ 22:37 writes: I'm hesitant to support this report because of the suggestion of putting earwort on the same balance that cures aeon potentially skewing things too badly - especially for bards who have access to hindering a target by fiddling with both. While the Overhaul is still underway, I'd like to defer this mechanic being switched for later, like the other associated lock afflictions/effects so that we have a better gauge of what this change may fully entail once the Overhaul is complete. Faeleaf would go alongside of this earwort change, so I'd like to defer that and not support solution 2 either. ---on 3/25 @ 17:28 writes: Coming back to this like a month later, I'm still in support of solution 1. Solution 2 is another matter, however. We need to find a happy medium between trueblind glamours effects on a victim and non-trueblind, and then remove faeleaf as a curative altogether. Additionally, we need to figure out what to do with Transfix in Glamours and with Spix, and Maze. I'd say assign a 5p cost to transfix, and find a new effect for Spix, and let Maze stay 10p and have a long cooldown before you can use it again, so that you can't Maze 2 people at the beginning of a fight. Faeleaf can also be neutered by moving Rebounding to a skill in Discipline (preferably low) and have its own balance, and since cloudcoils has been removed, there's no longer a need to keep faeleaf in a pipe to smoke. ---on 3/25 @ 17:32 writes: Yeah, still not supporting solution 2 either. Either you do it all or none of it. My personal idea is to just remove the entire trueblind mechanic, then balance Glamours' power level to somewhere in between the current versions of blind vs nonblind. As far as transfix is concerned, what about making it into a delayed aff that if you don't cure it in x seconds it then becomes the transfix. This way, it replicates the current effect without necessarily having to change anything. For maze, make it into a delayed reaction effect to give the victim a chance to escape, like start maze, x seconds later, maze completes. Have it be reasonably short. ---on 3/25 @ 17:33 writes: RE: steam balance for earwort - I share Viynain's issue with putting both aeon curing and pfifth escaping on the same balance - it skews the balance in favour of aeon bards too much. With this in mind, I don't think this report should go through as is given the potential balance concerns ---on 3/25 @ 17:45 writes: This report is meant for aurics, not aeon bards. Auric offensives got nailed when they all moved to steam balance -- a person can currently eat earwort, then smoke to cure an auric in one second, making it really difficult to stick aurics -- especially if there's passive curing in the mix. The alternative is finding a way to keep the person from being able to smoke off aurics, allowing a bard that's on their toes to keep them blanknoted in Octave and reasonably keep aurics on. ---on 3/25 @ 20:00 writes: Doesn't matter if it's meant for aurics, it also affects aeon bards and there is a real issue of making it too easy to both keep someone from leaving and keep them stuck in aeon because they both share the same balance. ---on 3/25 @ 20:18 writes: I understand, and agree. But the auric issue still needs solving. ---on 3/30 @ 02:47 writes: Going to agree with Sojiro for now-- let's see how it looks when the system is fully converted. ---on 3/31 @ 18:04 writes: I think there are decent points made all around but it remains that leaving this hanging has a severely negative impact on DiscordantChord, which is the base kill method that bards are built on. Also, since not all guilds have gimmicky kill methods in their music specs, the impact of this is not equally felt across the board. This is more than just an inconvenience.